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Schmidt: I will miss this immensely
By Russell Greaves
An emotional Joe Schmidt conceded he will miss being in the dugout at the Aviva Stadium after taking charge of Ireland in a home Six Nations match for the last time.
The New Zealander is stepping down from the role after this year's Rugby World Cup and led his side to a 26-14 victory over France on Sunday to keep alive the defence of their Six Nations title.
Asked if he will miss being on the touchline in Dublin, Schmidt told Virgin Media: "Immensely, immensely.
"It's been six incredible years for me. I'll miss it."
With Ireland's championship hopes hanging by a thread ever since their opening-game defeat to England, Schmidt identified a bonus point against France as a crucial objective.
It was one they achieved courtesy of tries from Rory Best, Johnny Sexton, Jack Conan and Keith Earls.
"We wanted to force our way through and get four tries," said Schmidt, who saw his side concede two late tries.
"And when we did, it felt like we buttoned off a little bit. I thought when the replacements came on, initially they did a really good job for us but the last 10 minutes we let a few things slip.
"When you miss chances and still get four scores against a French side, you have to be pretty happy.
"After what happened that first weekend, to still be in the title race, it says a lot about this team.
"We've never used this many players in a championship before. We've never had to make so many early changes in a match or changes just before a match kick-off.
"From that perspective, it shows that we are building."
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we need a damaging 12 that takes 2 men to tackle that will take pressure off the 10 while also creating space for the 10 and 13 . Leicester is the only guy that fits the mould . The next thing is " will he be able to develop a good offload " ? .
for 13 Joey manu has more x factor then reiko and jordie put togeather . he's got one season in japan before he looks to come home . he's a dark horse but his skill set is something the All Blacks don't have . if he comes home and lights up the npc in a game or 2 , id love to see him fast tracked and come off the bench for the All Blacks and thrown into the deep end to see if he can swim . Just to see if he's worth the time and effort to develop further . We all saw how good sualii did for the wallabies and joey manu is just as good as sualii . He's safe under the high ball , a solid defender , has a master offload , and he's fast and strong .
he fits the mould for razor's offload tactics .
Plus reiko and jordie have had the 12 & 13 for how long and I haven't seen anything special from either of them .
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